Course Delivery

Assessment

3,000 WORD RESEARCH PROJECT ON A STUDENT-CHOSEN ASPECT OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND CRIMINOLOGY

70%

Semester Assessment

ORAL PRESENTATION

30%

Supplementary Assessment

3,000 WORD RESEARCH PROJECT ON A STUDENT-CHOSEN ASPECT OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND CRIMINOLOGY TO BE RESUBMITTED, IF FAILED

70%

Supplementary Assessment

A 1500 WORD CRITIQUE OF A CRIMINAL JUSTICE JOURNAL PAPER; OR A 1500 WORD COMPARISON BETWEEN DIFFERING THEORIES, IF THE PRESENTATION IS THE FAILED ELEMENT

30%

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this module, students should be able to:
1. Analyse and critically evaluate the relationship between ethical, philosophical, political and sociological effects of state use of force and other human rights violations and of state and international controls on such behavior;
2. Dissect and critically assess the various features of human rights breaches and the reasons why they occur;
3. Provide a critical discursive argument which addresses the question of whether various interventions `work?;
4. Demonstrate an ability to undertake sustained critical analysis of the interaction between human rights and criminology;
5. Demonstrate an ability to ccritically assess moral, political, popular and media discourses in human rights violations;
6. Demonstrate an ability to critically discuss the ideas, theories and concepts learnt in the module in relation to specific case studies.

Content

- Human rights violations as a criminological phenomenon and the relation between human rights protection and criminal law. Historical legal background: the emergence of international criminal law and special international jurisdictions.
- The general control of behaviour ? how human rights can be used as a standard to assess acceptable levels of control or tolerance. Can they help to balance behaviour in a multi-cultural society? Can rights be used as a control of control?
- Categories of offending conduct: 'atrocity offences' and 'international crimes' ? legal, criminological and rights conceptions. Critical evaluation of the use of criminal responsibility to deal with atrocity.
- Explanations: biological explanations, political structures, economic and environmental stress. The psychology of atrocity. Does punishment fit into this context and what is its relationship to rights?
- Types of process: compensation, amnesty, truth and reconciliation, moral, restorative and social reconstruction programmes. Analysis of theses from a human rights perspective and their utility in the resolution of both normal crimes and atrocities.
- Preventive strategies in a rights-based system.
- Can rights act as a whole system or only as a break on unacceptable behaviour?

Brief description

The module will consider human rights atrocities and violations of human rights by states, state agents and other actors throughout the world. It will concentrate on reasons for, and explanations of, the violations both at individual and group levels. It will analyse the effectiveness of national and international legal controls and, without getting drawn in to the legal complexities, study the enforcement mechanisms utilized by both national and international agents to prevent, control and punish such activities. It also introduces students to the moral discourses involved and to an assessment of the practical effects of these violations both nationally and more broadly. It will then look more generally at the control of behaviour and consider how human rights can be used as a tool to understand both standards of acceptable behaviour and act as a break on over zealous controls or intolerant laws.